Research paper on effective investigation tactics of drug offences, dangerous groups and organized

Introduction

For over a decade, the government in general has been fighting a war to reduce crime and making every state a better place. Drug traffickers, offenders, organized crime groups and even other negatively charged groups are known to work within our community, of which in most cases their ability to grow is encourages by giving them a blind eye. This paper is focused on offering insight into the most effective ways to investigate the offenders as well as the pros and cons in relation to the topical area and identified problem.

Discussion

Starting from persons in authoritative positions, it is not unheard of to witness governors or even senators passing/ or failing to pass vital bills related cubing crime especially drug related, but rather make choices depending on their selfish political ambitions. They have been known for choosing an option that will propel him/her further rather than bring change within their communities in ensuring a safe environment. At the level of courts and the police force, these have been known to be key in identifying, investigating, arresting and even punishing criminals in our communities. As much as these responsibilities have been bestowed upon them, due to ills like corruption and greed, they have been known to accept bribes and other gift hence turning a blind eye on justice offenders. A further scrutiny of this fact reveals a great disconnection between investigation and actual arrest of offenders. It ends up being circles that cannot be solve due to the involvement of the law enforcement authority representatives in the crime (Braga, Flynn, Kelling and Cole, 2011). In other instances the investigative processes turn violent and when the criminal is injured, the crime takes another turn or is dismissed.
At the lower level of identifying some of the factors that inhibit proper investigation for drug offenses or even gang related crimes in general are known to be community attitude. It is a fact that crime, drugs and communal vices thrive in poverty. Crime is always reported to be higher in low income regions in comparison to high income. At the end of the day, most community members tend to have a negative attitude towards the different arms of the law that can easily help them by having proper investigation. In search of information, the community ends up staying away from the investigators rather than collaborating with them to solve crime. Being that the offenders in most cases are members of the same community, aiding their apprehension can easily make one be branded as a ‘ Snitch’, hence a new target and outcast.

Effective investigative approaches

It has been identified that in order to solve crime of any kind effectively, it is of utmost importance to come up with a combined effort force. Living the responsibility to the law enforcement officers has been proven to end up in the ditches, in most cases. During investigation of organized crime, dangerous groups, gang or even drug offences, it is vital to put the following elements into place to ensure success; political support, law enforcement scrutiny, community involvement, youth engagement, law and policy development and prison rehabilitation.

Political Support

At the political level, during investigations, politicians can easily come up and out rightly condemn the issue of crime hence motivating the lower levels to work even harder to solve the crimes. It goes without say that a political system that is free from involvement with criminals who deal with drugs or organized crime are always in a better position to work with other arms of the law without protecting criminals. Crimes thrive in systems that can easily be twisted and manipulated to favor their activities that are primarily done ‘ in the dark’. Governors and senators are in a position to reach more informational resources whenever needed; as a result they become useful in backing investigations.

Courts and law enforcement agencies

Criminals who have been apprehended by law enforcers are known to be taken through the corridors of the law, within courts to ensure justice. It is expected for judges and the system at large to be in a position to process the cases, have a clears channel of handling the evidence that is key to conviction, and at the end of the day, give a sentence that is worthy of the crime. In the past, criminals have been known to walk scot free as a result of avoidable mistakes like mishandling of evidence, or even sudden disappearance of the same. Being that dangerous gangs or even the gang leaders have been known to be very influential, in some cases, court clerks have found themselves in a position where they have been threatened to be harmed if the evidence see the light of day. In some cases, clerks have even accepted bribes hence tampering with the evidence, rendering it useless in convicting offenders.
The law enforcers are known to handle evidence and one needs integrity in order for the evidence to be handled properly and forwarded to the investigating wing of the government. Today, the use of advanced technology has been put in place to ensure that investigations as a result of either act by drug offenses, organized crime groups or even gang in generals a thoroughly investigated. In comparison to the past, apart from engaging technology that can identify elements like finger prints, it has got to a level where the enforcement agencies are able to scrutinize DNA samples and provide it as evidence in courts. This type of technological advancement has been known to work hand in hand with highly digitalized information resource systems in the form of databases (Braga, Flynn, Kelling and Cole, 2011). This is a combination that if implemented correctly during investigation processes, can be a vital tool in freeing the innocent and making sure that only the real criminals face jail terms.

Community Involvement

When it comes to gathering information about drug offenders or even dangerous crime, the community has always been known to be a great source of information. On the other hand, in some cases members of the society fail to give out information for fear of being branded as ‘ snitches’. In order to tap into the informational resource availed by our community members, the use of technology has made it more reliable and better in numerous aspects. During investigation, technology has enabled investigators to place secret listening devices in rooms used by offenders and gangs (Docobo, 2005). Not only can this information be used as evidence but incase a community member collaborated with the law enforcement agencies to see that the investigation succeeded, it is almost impossible to be pin pointed by other.

Youth Involvement

In several instances, most of the apprehended juvenile offender, either as a result of drug related offences or even dangerous group involvement have been known to go back to the crimes when released. One of the main excuses given is that they had to do the crime in order to survive. In order to aid proper investigation, juvenile offender can easily scrutinized and given options of early release in case they collaborate with investigation (Docobo, 2005). They always end up being a valuable source of information if exploited correctly during investigation.

Prison Rehabilitation

Implementing relevant technology and information during investigation goes a long way toward having a deeper understanding of why criminals engage themselves in drug offences or even dangerous group related crimes. While in prison, on of the aim of these institutions is to ensure that the men and women who go through the system come out as better people than before. Prisoners can easily help greatly when it comes to collecting investigative data relating to crime. With the technology and informational resources availed, investigating agencies find themselves in a better position to scrutinize the validity of evidence provided by the prisoners rather than just relying on instinct (Winterdyk and Ruddell, 2010). In cases where a prisoner has been released, it is also of utmost importance to note that with the current technologies, law enforcement agencies can easily monitor the activities of the persons released to ensure that they are not engaging in any crime as per their early release agreement.

Laws and policies

Apart from the act stated above, in the same line of aiding effective investigation and justice another relevant Act past to ensure this was the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. This act provided codes that were to be strongly adhered to by the police force during investigation and evidence handling. The police being a law enforcement agency developed to serve and protect the public, this act clearly state the boundaries that need to be stuck to during the process. Some of the amendments made in the recent years in the act include the right that one has, and requirements that the police force need to have before searching a premise. Other relevant amendment involving recordings of statements at the police stations were amended to suit the changing technological advancement and evidence threshold. The FBI after its formation more than a century ago has had to amend several of its counterintelligence and even counter terrorism investigation operation to suit the current age. After 9/11 and even the Oklahoma City attacks, the new amendments are geared towards stopping the crime before they even happen. More powers and boundary of operations were given to the agency.

Conclusion

Over the past, researchers have been able to identify a strong connection between crime rates in our communities and linking them to the levels of disorganization in societal structure. In an organized society, elements like proper channels of communication, investigations and even punishment are established and bring results. With the current technology availed to investigative arms of the government, we have move mile ahead towards ensuring that only criminals face jail time and also in a position to collect more evidence than ever before to convict then. In the same line, to ensure the success of investigations, community involvement has been identified to be really important and with the same technological advancement, working hand with the rich informational resources available today, we are in a better position to investigate drug offences, dangerous group activities and even organized crime better than before (Braga, Flynn, Kelling and Cole, 2011).

References

Bjelopera, J. P. (April, 2013). The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Terrorism Investigations. Congressional Research Service. Retrieved from http://www. fas. org/sgp/crs/terror/R41780. pdf on 18/8/2013.
Braga, A. A., Flynn, E. A., Kelling, G. L. and Cole C. M. (March, 2011). New perspectives in Policing: Moving the Work of Criminal Investigators towards Crime Control. National Institute of Justice. Retrieved from http://cms. hks. harvard. edu/var/ezp_site/storage/fckeditor/file/pdfs/centers-programs/programs/criminal-justice/ExecSessionPolicing/NPIP-MovingtheWorkofCriminalInvestigatorsTowardsCrimeControl-03-11. pdf on 18/8/2013.
Docobo, J. (2005). Community Policing as the Primary Prevention Strategy for Homeland Security at the Local Law Enforcement level. Homeland Security Affairs Journal, 1(1). Retrieved from http://www. hsaj. org/? fullarticle= 1. 1. 4 on 18/8/2013.
Winterdyk, J. and Ruddell, R. (2010). Managing Prison Gangs: results from a survey of U. S Prison Systems. Journal of Criminal Justice, 38. 730-736. Retrieved from http://www. academia. edu/1116898/Managing_prison_gangs_Results_from_a_survey_of_U. S. _prison_systems on 18/8/2013.